topo84

That's incredible how accurately it can track the ball! What software was used to program the ball tracking code?

UPDATE: I think I solved the issue with a bit of experimenting. One thing I failed to mention was that the motor was geared up, as well as spinning two large Technic wheels. The quick rotation of the wheels might have been spinning the motor too quickly, causing the overheat-shutoff and the sparks (which I haven't seen since my last post). Just an idea, but sounds plausible to me. I tested the motor without anything attached to the battery box and had no issues. Thanks to all who gave suggestions. I pasted the part number I posted into Bricklink and got the right battery box, I'm not sure what the issue was. Sorry about that.

This seems like a dumb question but I thought I'd ask anyways. I've built a small Technic model with a 9V buggy motor (part 5292) attached to a 9V battery box (part 2847c01) and I've become worried that this isn't the best combination. After a few seconds of running through the battery box, the motor will wind down and stop turning unless I give the motor a second to rest before trying again. I assumed that was normal, since this is a high-energy consumption motor after all. But when running the motor at the top speed it would go, I noticed little blue sparks in the vents at the bottom of the motor. Is that normal? Is it safe to run that motor through that battery box? Will I burn out my motor if I keep using it in that battery box? Am I being too cautious? Is this too many questions? I just realized that the Mobile Crane (set 8421) has the same motor and battery box, but I'm assuming that models motor is geared down to some extent while my model is geared up. Any insight would be much appreciated. Thanks!

UPDATE: While browsing a Mindstorms site made by Mike Brandl, I stumbled upon a page about a building event hosted by LEGO and Energizer around Germany in 2002. Going through the pages talking about the entries, the final page discussed the winners, with the grand prize winner actually receiving the LEGO Mindstorms stegosaurus model! Here is the page where I found this out. The question still remains of where this model is now, but knowing that it was a prize for a competition, tracking it down might be impossible. The pointless quest I've set up for myself might be winding down.

I think this is my first post on Eurobricks, so I'll make it a weird one. I'm interested in finding more about a LEGO Mindstorms model built by the LEGO Group sometime around 2000-2001, a walking stegosaurus model shown below. This picture is from LEGO World 2001, it can be found here. I've confirmed that this model was built by the LEGO Group from this photo found on the Mindstorms website in 2002 on the development of the 3800 Ultimate Builders Set (I couldn't get the picture to insert, so you can find it here). It's in the top left corner. So the question is: where is this model now? Is it in the hands of a collector? Still in the hands of the LEGO Group? Dismantled somewhere? It's almost 20 years old now, so there might be no answer. Maybe someone knows more about this model, but if not it's an interesting piece of Mindstorms history.